Search results

Strategic management/business policy.

This case study is intended for undergraduate (business administration) level students.

PeakWater is a state-owned water supplier in Peakland. Owing to government restrictions, the water supply maintenance business of the company has to be outsourced to a separate entity, resulting in the establishment of FixIt, a wholly owned subsidiary of PeakWater. FixIt is mainly responsible for maintaining the water pumps, as well as investing in new projects for PeakWater. The lower efficiency and incompetence in investment of FixIt hinders the growth of PeakWater in the long run, and also causes discontent by the citizens. PeakWater's Board is evaluating two proposals submitted by the Group Planning Division.

These are: the nature of private enterprises and its creation of value for public enterprises; the conflicts of interest between private and public enterprises; and the criteria and considerations in the evaluation of corporate strategies.

Teaching notes are available – consult your librarian for access. The teaching notes include a list of supporting materials.

Human resource management, Employee relations, Strategic human resource management.

The given case study is to be used by graduate and post-graduate students of Management in the courses of Human Resource Management & Employee Relations. The case may also be used for the discussions on the concepts such as discipline, disciplinary enquiry, grievance settlement procedure, workplace counseling and strategic human resource management.

The given case study is hypothetical in nature and meant for academic purpose and classroom teaching. In the given case study, the authors present a grievance settlement mechanism of a banking sector organization. The case study is about a grievance and its settlement of a sales executive in the branch office through the involvement of other senior officials at the workplace. The case study is useful to understand the significance of disciplinary issues, grievance settlement and domestic enquiry and counseling at the workplace.

The learning objective of the case is to make students understand the significance and various aspects of employee relations at the workplace. It aims at making students familiar with the requirement of discipline, focus on grievance settlement procedure and conducting disciplinary inquiry. The case study further has purpose to make students learn about the importance of counseling and be familiar with steps in counseling for handling real-life situations in their career.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case describes an impasse that arose when two professors from diverse backgrounds were co-teaching a course in IMC-M, a reputed business school. Professor Agrawal, who has been educated in the western context, is more research oriented. Prof Yadav, on the other hand has rich industry experience and is an alumni of IMC-M. The case highlights the coordination issues and conflict that occur when there is a lack of communication between two faculties, who had considerable differences in attitudes, beliefs, and expectations. The case illustrates how a conflict unfolds and that effective management of conflict should begin with the design of task itself. The case emphasizes that the important determinants of conflicts are lack of communication and improper management of expectations of the key stakeholders.

After reading the case and answering the case assignments, students will be able to understand and explain the challenges and opportunities for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors and their subcontractors; understand and critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of insourcing and outsourcing of engineering, procurement and construction in EPC projects; determine which situations merit insourcing or outsourcing within each of engineering, procurement and construction in EPC projects; understand and identify the competencies and qualifications that a subcontractor must possess if any EPC activity is outsourced to them; and develop a decision-making framework to determine which EPC activities must be kept in-house or outsourced in EPC projects.

In mid-March 2021, PetroSahand International Group, a leading EPC contractor specializing in the oil, gas and petrochemicals industries in Iran, encountered significant challenges with its subcontractors in engineering and construction. These issues resulted in widespread repercussions for the company, including project delays and mounting debts. At the peak of these crises, PetroSahand’s senior management embarked on a thorough examination of whether to insource or outsource various aspects of their operations, such as engineering, procurement and construction. Their objective was twofold: to prevent similar setbacks in future projects and to navigate existing projects with minimal disruption to the company’s reputation. To address this critical dilemma, PetroSahand enlisted the expertise of a consulting team from Sharif University of Technology. Comprising esteemed professors, graduates and students from one of Iran’s most respected institutions, this team undertook an exhaustive analysis of the insourcing versus outsourcing debate across EPC domains. Subsequently, they presented their comprehensive findings, thereby confronting PetroSahand’s senior management with a pivotal choice regarding the optimal approach for each activity.

The audience of this work is undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in project management courses, both fundamentals and advanced. In addition, this case helps senior managers of EPC contractors gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of insourcing or outsourcing different project activities.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

Alexandre Tombini, the governor of the Central Bank of Brazil, faced a difficult situation in July 2015. Inflation was in the double digits, well above the target rate of 4.5%, and unemployment had increased from around 4.5% a year prior to nearly 8%. Any actions Tombini took to control inflation would most likely exacerbate unemployment, at least in the short run. To further complicate matters, Tombini's office was not independent of the executive branch of Brazil's government, and Tombini faced the possibility that any of his actions that were not aligned with the priorities of the current administration could cost him his job.

This case follows classes on fiscal and monetary policy in normal times and is the first class in a sequence on macroeconomic challenges–in this case, stagflation–high inflation and high unemployment. Students are pushed to consider why macroeconomic stabilization involves such acute and unpleasant tradeoffs during episodes of high inflation and unemployment. Students use the IS/LM AD/AS model as a reference.

This case investigation used firsthand statements, reports, testimony and regulatory records. While widely publicized in the popular press, this case is based on primary documents. On their website, many documents were obtained from Wells Fargo’s Corporate newsroom, such as the internal audit report shared with shareholders and press releases. Most other sources were from US regulatory websites (.gov) or congressional testimony. In a few places, quotes and comments came from reliable journalistic sites that cite their sources and follow a journalist’s code of ethics and conduct, ensuring that the reported remarks and data were verified.

Since 2016, Wells Fargo Bank has faced multiple customer mistreatment investigations and resultant fines. Public outcry and distrust resulted from Wells Fargo employees creating hidden accounts and enrolling people in bank services without their knowledge to meet desired levels of sustained shareholder growth. Over the past five years, Wells Fargo has been fined and returned to customers and stockholders over $3bn. Wells Fargo executives spent the first year of the scandal citing improper behavior by employees. Leadership did not take responsibility for setting the organizational goals, which led to employee misbehavior. Even after admitting some culpability in creating the extreme sales culture, executives and the Board of Directors tried to distance themselves from blame for the unethical behavior. They cited the organizations’ decentralized structure as a reason the board was not quicker in seeing and correcting the negative behaviors of these ‘bad apple’ employees. Wells Fargo faced multiple concurrent scandals, such as upselling services to retirees, inappropriately repossessing service members’ vehicles, adding insurance and extra fees to mortgages and other accounts and engaging in securities fraud. As time has passed, the early versions of a handful of “bad apples” seem to be only a part of the overall “poison tree.”The dilemma, in this case, is who is responsible for the misbehavior and the inappropriate sales of products and services (often without the customer’s knowledge)? Is strategic growth year-over-year with no allowances for environmental and economic factors a realistic and reasonable goal for corporations? This case is appropriate for undergraduates and graduate students in finance, human resources, management, accounting and investments.

An active case-based learning pedagogical approach is suggested. The materials include a short podcast, video and other materials to allow the faculty to assign pre-class work or to use in the classroom before a case discussion.

This case is about Kija Kim, a Korean born founder and CEO of Harvard Design and Mapping Inc. (HDM). Founded in 1988, HDM is a cutting-edge GIS firm with $5 million in revenue and 35 employees in their Cambridge, MA and Washington D.C. offices. Through Kija Kim's leadership, HDM has become a significant niche player in homeland security and disaster relief. The case ends in fall 2005 just after HDM provided Hurricane Katrina mapping support, and Kija is nominated for the SBA Small Business Person of the Year. This case explores the intersection between cultural heritage, leadership effectiveness and organizational behavior. It particularly notes Kija's ability to turn her immigrant female minority status into a business advantage. This strength coupled with her ethos of care and ability to network in all walks of her life contributes to her distinctive and integrated leadership style. Definitions of leadership success and implications for decision making are also highlighted.

The case “Corporate Governance Failure at Ricoh India: Rebuilding Lost Trust” discusses the series of events post disclosure of falsification of the accounts and violation of accounting principles, leading to a loss of INR 11.23bn for the company, eroding over 75 per cent of its market cap (Financial Express, 2016). The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. The case highlights the responsibility of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors and discusses the changes required in the corporate governance structure necessary to ensure that such incidents do not take place. The case also delves into the classic dilemma of degree of control that needs to be exercised by the parent over its subsidiaries and freedom of independence given to the subsidiary board, which is a constant challenge all multinationals face. Such a dilemma often leads to the challenge of creating appropriate corporate governance structures for numerous subsidiaries.

The case is intended for MBA courses on corporate governance, business ethics and also for the strategic management courses in the context of multinational corporations. The case can be used to develop an understanding of the essential of corporate governance with special focus on the role of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors. The case highlights the consequences and cost of poor corporate governance. The case can also be used for highlighting governance challenges in the parent subsidiary relationship for multinational corporations. The case can be used for executive training purposes on corporate governance and leadership with special focus on business ethics.

This case presents the challenges faced by the newly appointed Chairman Noboru Akahane of Ricoh India. In July 2016, Ricoh India, the Indian arm of Japanese firm Ricoh, admitted that the company’s accounts had been falsified and accounting principles violated, leading to a loss of INR 11.23 bn for the financial year 2016. The minority shareholders were agitating against the board of directors of Ricoh India and were also holding the parent company responsible for not safeguarding their interest. Over a period of 18 months, Ricoh India had been in the eye of a storm that involved delayed reporting of financials, auditor red flags regarding accounting irregularities, a forensic audit, suspension of top officials and a police complaint lodged by Ricoh India against its own officials. Akahane needed to ensure continuity of Ricoh India’s business and also act quickly and decisively to manage the crisis and ensure that these incidents did not recur in the future.

The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. More specifically, the case addresses the following objectives: provide an overview of corporate governance structure; highlight the role of board of directors, audit committee and external auditors; appreciate the rationale behind mandatory auditor rotation; appreciate the consequences of poor corporate structure; explore the interrelationship between sustainability reporting and transparency in financial disclosures of a corporation; understand management and governance of subsidiaries by multinational companies; and understand the response to a crisis situation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Business ethics/corporate social responsibility.

From undergrad to executive education (the case series has been successfully used with MBA students and executives).

The case series starts by describing how a fictitious company (called L'ArtiMarché) faced an individual corruption issue after entering the Russian market. After describing the company's creative reaction, the case shows that corruption issues can easily reoccur and might require a more systematic approach of L'ArtiMarché to fight corruption within the company and in the society at large.

Responding/reacting to (external) corruption; governance and compliance systems to prevent corruption; and contribution of companies to the development of the social/political/moral framework of their own operation.

Teaching notes.

There have been plans to merge UCO Bank with larger banks owing to its poor performance for many years. There were leaders in the history who had not been committed. The inadequate governance of the bank has been responsible for some of the major lapses. Mr. Arun Kaul took strategic initiatives and systematically strengthened the functioning of the board. It enabled the bank to turnaround and report profits in challenging economic conditions. The Bank is not yet completely safe and probably need strengthening of its competencies to emerging challenges.